From page 16
permanent sites in good tested areas and receives approximately 18 to 24 kg of honey per hive per year. These sites have to be in good secure areas to prevent vandalism and fairly safe for
New Langstroth hive showing( top) metal covered telescoping lid, then super chamber and below brood chamber and base. Ranged around on the grass are the inner components of the hive. Clockwise from left: Queen excluder, inner lid, brood frames with wax strips and foreground, super frames.
the beekeeper to enter and work into the early hours of the evenings. These sites are out of town on plots, farms, golf courses, etc. In all situations one supplies honey to the landowner on some sort of sharing basis. It is best to construct bee camps to protect the beehives and also gives the beekeeper an identity on these sites. ❑ Migratory beekeeping is where the beekeeper follows the crop for maximum pollen and nectar and will move three or four times per year. The honey crop will be about 60 kg per hive per year. The undertaking is costly but can be very lucrative if one has good selective sites and one plans moving the hives scientifically. The queens are
overworked in migratory keeping, without a natural rest period, and need to be replaced on an annual basis. This queen replacement is also very costly and involves culling all weak and failing queens and catching new swarms to replace these losses. Good planning and apiary management is the secret of success in the case of migratory beekeeping. In South Africa it is recommended that beekeepers use standard Langstroth beehives, which are made of SA Pine and are available from beekeeper shops and advertising manufacturers of all bee products and equipment, at a cost of about R1 200 each. A full hive comprises a fixed floor, a brood chamber with ten brood frames, a queen excluder, a super( honey) chamber with ten shallow super frames, an inner cover and a metal covered telescopic lid. The woodwork is
BEEKEEPING
treated with wood oil or creosote to preserve the hive from the weather and harvester white ants. Alternatively, most beekeeping supply stores supply hives in component form so somebody with a modicum of woodworking skill can hammer and glue his own hive together at a fraction of the cost of a builtup unit. Costs can be further kept to a minimum if the beekeeper has a good woodworking machine shop, where he can manufacture his own beehive to the Langstroth standards. Although in standard form a hive comprises a brood chamber with one super, a good, large and productive swarm can occupy two or three supers, so one is likely to have a few spare supers and their frames ready for use, even if one has only one or two hives.
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17 www. sasmallholder. co. za